The Northern Bobwhite Quail face many challenges in their daily lives. Whether it is habitat loss, drought, predators (of which there are many), or parasites, the challenges are abundant for the upland game bird. They need a healthy habitat that provides cover for protection, food, and water in order to survive. Quail Safe, based out of Lubbock, TX, is doing its part to face these challenges in quail conservation.
What is Quail Safe?
“Quail Safe is a company dedicated to the preservation of wild quail populations through the use of modern science and technology.” They have created a feeder that allows for the safe feeding of quail. The feeder, which acts as supplemental cover, is a trapezoidal structure with small triangular openings for the quail to walk through. While inside and underneath the feeder they are protected from both aerial and ground predators. The lower portion of the enclosure is made of expanded steel so the quail can have visibility while inside. The system feeds milo or fortified feed by gravity, allowing birds to eat directly off an elevated plate. This helps eliminate wasted feed. Due to the sturdy design and materials, it is safe from hogs, cows, and any other potentially damaging threats.
Offered as an attachment is an Electronic Covey Caller that has 360 degrees of sound dispersion. The call does two things. First, it helps quail locate the feeder faster, and second, it increases the range of the feeder by calling birds from a longer distance. Additionally, Quail Safe is currently prototyping a Rain Collecting Watering System which captures, stores, and delivers rainfall to the birds. While quail get most of their hydration from preformed water, having a supplemental water source will improve covey health. This is especially true in harsh habitat conditions when succulent food sources are not readily available.
Other Quail Advancements
Quail Safe has supported the Texas Tech Wildlife Toxicology Laboratory’s development of QuailGuard, the first medicated feed to treat parasitic infection in wild quail. These parasites, eyeworms and caecal worms, are the greatest threat to the bobwhite quail population in Texas. If Unknowingly ingested while feeding on grasshoppers and crickets, the eyeworms attack tissues located in the eye and nasal passages which causes blindness in the birds. The caecal worms collect in the cecum of a quails intestines and steal the nutrients the birds desperately need to survive. QuailGuard will treat the larvae before maturation and will kill off the adult parasitic worms.
If you’re an upland bird hunter, conservationist, wildlife lover, or even just a landowner that has quail, owning a Quail Safe Feeder is a no-brainer. Paired together, the Quail Safe Feeder and QuailGuard provides the best supplemental food resource available for wild quail. With year-round feeding and periodical parasite treatment suggestions, the team behind Quail Safe are doing their part in quail conservation.
Hunt. Fish. Love. Texas!
